NIH-inifiated efforts to centralize expertise, instrumentafion, and facilifies to promote comprehensive evaluafion of genefically engineered mice, fissues and cells has improved our understanding of funcfional genomics and disease pathobiology. The Metabolic and Molecular Physiology Core (MMPC) provides investigators at UCLA, UCSD, Cedars-Sinai, and the Salk Institute with a series of state-of-the-art and costeffecfive molecular and physiological assays not readily available from nafional phenotyping centers. The MMPC is divided into four sub-cores: A) Insulin sensitivity and metabolism, B) Oxidative metabolism and mitochondrial biology, C) LIPID MAPS-lipidomics, and D) Inflammatory siganling, and each sub-core offers extensive training and consultafion on a variety of topics from experimental design to data interpretafion and integrafion. Specifically, the MMPC provides services to assess: movement, feeding behavior, indirect calorimetry, body composifion, glucose/insulin tolerance, insulin acfion, substrate metabolism and oxidative capacity, mitochondrial funcfion, circulafing and fissue lipids (lipidomics), circulafing hormones / adipokines / cytokines, and diabetes complicafions. The MMPC maintains a fissue bio-bank as well as a comprehensive database of standard protocols for a vast number of phenotyping techniques, and phenotypic outcomes for a wide variety of genefically engineered mice. The MMPC leadership includes top investigators from the fields of nuclear receptor biology, lipid metabolism, inflammafion, and adipocyte and skeletal muscle biology including: Peter Tontonoz, Andrea Hevener, Karen Reue, Rajendra Tangirala, Edward Dennis, Oswald Quehenberger. Strengths of the MMPC include the well-rounded and complementary expertise of its leadership and the excepfional track record of producfivity and high impact scientific publicafions. The collaborafive spirit ofthe MMPC team fosters a collegial environment and supports service well-coordinated with other DRC cores and institufional resources. The central goal ofthe MMPC is to advance the scientific capabilifies ofthe DRC membership in leading-edge metabolic analysis to improve overall research quality with enhanced translafiori of research ideas from cell, fissue and mouse to man.